Roberta Flack RIP

[chevymontecarlo88]

One of my favorites gone but not forgotten. RIP Roberta 😓

NEW YORK (AP) — Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style made her one of the top recording artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long after, died Monday. She was 88.

She died at home surrounded by her family, publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement. Flack announced in 2022 she had ALS, and could no longer sing, little known before her early 30s, Flack became an overnight star after Clint Eastwood used “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” as the soundtrack for one of cinema’s more memorable and explicit love scenes, between the actor and Donna Mills in his 1971 film “Play Misty for Me.” The hushed, hymn-like ballad, with Flack’s graceful soprano afloat on a bed of soft strings and piano, topped the Billboard pop chart in 1972 and received a Grammy for record of the year.

[onlinecentral]

Roberta Flack dead at 88 4:35

[chevymontecarlo88]

Here is the song that most will remember her by. 

[reallynicestamps]

GNU Roberta Flack

[roccotacodad54 · Accepted solution]

   My wife says I only like singers, musicians, actors, artists etc. that are deceased may be even more true now.

[jewelbiz]

While I was still married to him, my ex-husband earned 4 gold records with 2 for Roberta Flack lp record albums as her recording engineer.

He made the music in the Atlantic Records recording studio where Roberta Flack’s voice won her 2 gold records.

[chevymontecarlo88]

Although we had mutual friends, i never did get a chance to meet her. I remember hearing about the music school she opened in the city and never did get a chance to visit. I do regret not making the time to do so. 

I am sure you have some great stories from that era, especially if your husband worked for Atlantic. What a great label during those times. Engineers never did enough credit, and many times would be the ones responsible for capturing/sculpting the recordings. Producers always got too much credit. 😀

Atlantic had some real big players behind the scenes, especially Tom Dowd. Legendary.

Thanks for the post @jewelbiz !

Feel free to post any related stories if applicable. 

[jewelbiz]

I think the partial reason for our divorce was that I am and always was a real early morning person and my ex-husband was on a very late night clock.

In fact when he recorded Aretha he was called to work at the recording studio for 12 midnight.

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@jewelbiz wrote:

I think the partial reason for our divorce was that I am and always was a real early morning person and my ex-husband was on a very late night clock.

In fact when he recorded Aretha he was called to work at the recording studio for 12 midnight.

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That was a common problem within the industry.

Being married to an engineer or touring musician is tough. 

[fbusoni]

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@roccotacodad54 wrote:

   My wife says I only like singers, musicians, actors, artists etc. that are deceased may be even more true now.

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Well... look at who is no longer around, and compare them to those who pass for singers, musicians, actors and artists today.

You can certainly be excused.   The only music I listen to is performed by those individuals / groups who are no longer with us:  Burt Bacharach, Jascha Heifetz, Maurizio Pollini, Brasil 66, Elvis Presley, Karen Carpenter, Whitney Houston, Robert Reifling, Wilhelm Kempff, Artur Rubinstein, etc..